Daniel C. Peterson and Stephen D. Ricks, “Comparing LDS Beliefs with First-Century Christianity,” Ensign, Mar 1988, 7
Since the inception of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, many critics have denied that it is Christian. Surprisingly, the basis for the claim has little to do with the standard definition of Christian: anyone or any group that believes in Jesus Christ as the Savior and Son of God. Rather, it has to do with Latter-day Saint doctrines that some feel are alien to “traditional Christianity,” where “traditional Christianity” means that body of beliefs held by most present-day Christian churches. The argument essentially goes that if the LDS church believes in certain doctrines not believed in by most present-day Christian churches, then the LDS church cannot be Christian.
The problem with this argument is that the major doctrines under attack are amazingly similar to Christian beliefs held during the New Testament period and the generations immediately following.
Does the New Testament define Christianity?
The Gospels lack any explicit treatment of the word Christian. Indeed, the word appears only three times in the New Testament, and never from the mouth of Christ himself. The word Christianity is entirely absent from the New Testament.
Acts 11:26 tells us that “the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” Here, the passive construction “were called Christians” suggests that the term was first used not by Christians, but by non-Christians. (Similarly, the names Yankee and Mormon were first used by outsiders.)
The term was probably modeled on such words as Herodian and Caesarian, already in circulation at that time, and meant nothing more complicated than Christ’s people or, perhaps, partisans of Christ. Note that the Christian congregation at Antioch represented a wide range of backgrounds, including Jews and non-Jews. These believers displayed the whole spectrum of attitudes toward the Jewish law—from continued adherence to the traditions of Judaism to rejection of all things Jewish.
The next mention of the term Christian is in Acts 26:28, where Agrippa makes his famous reply to Paul: “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” The Apostle had related to Agrippa and Festus the story of his conversion. The doctrinal content of Paul’s speech is simple and straightforward: Paul bears witness that Jesus had been foretold by the Jewish prophets, that he suffered and rose from the dead, and that forgiveness may be obtained through him. Paul described Christ’s mission as summoning people to “repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.” (Acts 26:20.) The scriptural account gives no indication that Paul had to correct Agrippa’s use of the word Christian to describe one who believes in these basic doctrines.
First Peter 4:16 is the last instance of the word’s appearance in the New Testament. This verse is virtually without doctrinal definition, merely assuring the believer that he need not be ashamed if he suffer as a “Christian.” Even here, the term may be one that persecuting outsiders were using. It may have derived from current Roman, that is, non-Christian, legal usage.
In each of these instances, the term appears to originate from someone outside the community of believers themselves. In neither of the two passages from Acts does Paul use the word himself; it is non-Christians who use it. Where the term is used, the stated and implied beliefs of the Christians are far different from the present-day beliefs used to deny that Latter-day Saints are Christians, as can be clearly shown.
Is it true that because Latter-day Saints reject the traditional doctrine of the Trinity, they are not Christians?
The Church’s first Article of Faith is “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.” This is a straightforward statement of belief that there are three members in the Godhead. However, Latter-day Saints do reject the doctrines of the Trinity as taught by most Christian churches today. For the most part, these creeds—the most famous of which is the Nicene Creed—were canonized in the fourth and fifth centuries a.d. following centuries of debate about the nature of the Godhead. Consequently, it is highly questionable whether these creeds reflect the thinking or beliefs of the New Testament church.
“The exact theological definition of the doctrine of the Trinity,” notes J. R. Dummelow, “was the result of a long process of development, which was not complete until the fifth century, or maybe even later.” 1 As Bill Forrest remarks, “To insist that a belief in the Trinity is requisite to being Christian, is to acknowledge that for centuries after the New Testament was completed thousands of Jesus’ followers were in fact not really ‘Christian.’ ” 2 Certainly the revelatory manner by which Joseph Smith learned of the doctrine of the Godhead pierces through the centuries-old debate on the subject.
Is it true that because Latter-day Saints believe that human beings can eventually become like God, they are not Christian?
As even a cursory glance at early Christian thought reveals, the idea that man might become as God—known in Greek as theosis or theopoiesis—may be found virtually everywhere, from the New Testament through the writings of the first four centuries. Church members take seriously such passages as Psalm 82:6 [Ps. 82:6], John 10:33–36, and Philippians 2:5–6 [Philip. 2:5–6], in which a plurality of gods and the idea of becoming like God are mentioned.
The notion of theosis is characteristic of church fathers Irenaeus (second century a.d.), Clement of Alexandria (third century a.d.), and Athanasius (fourth century a.d.). Indeed, so pervasive was the doctrine in the fourth century that Athanasius’s archenemies, the Arians, also held the belief 3 and the Origenist monks at Jerusalem heatedly debated “whether all men would finally become like Christ or whether Christ was really a different creature.” 4
According to an ancient formula, “God became man that man might become God.” Early Christians “were invited to ‘study’ to become gods” (note the plural). 5
Though the idea of human deification waned in the Western church in the Middle Ages, it remained very much alive in the Eastern Orthodox faith, which includes such Christian sects today as the Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox churches. 6 Jaroslav Pelikan notes, “The chief idea of St. Maximus, as of all Eastern theology, [was] the idea of deification.” 7
Is the subject of deification truly a closed question? After all, echoes of man becoming like God are still found in the work of later and modern writers in the West. For instance, C. S. Lewis’s writings are full of the language of human deification. 8 Even Martin Luther was capable of speaking of the “deification of human nature,” although in what sense it is not clear. 9
Related to the claim that Latter-day Saints are not Christians because of their belief in deification is the assertion that if they hold to some kind of belief in deification then it must be that Church members do not view Jesus as uniquely divine. Such an assertion is totally erroneous. The phrase “Only Begotten Son” occurs with its variants at least ten times in the Book of Mormon, fourteen times in the Doctrine and Covenants, and nineteen times in the Pearl of Great Price. Basic to Latter-day Saint theology is the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the Only Begotten Son of the Father in the flesh.
Is it true that because Latter-day Saints practice baptism for the dead, they are not Christian?
The argument that Latter-day Saints cannot be Christians because they practice baptism for the dead presumes that it has been definitely established that 1 Corinthians 15:29 [1 Cor. 15:29] has nothing to do with an early Christian practice of baptism for the dead. The argument ignores the fact that such second-century groups as the Montanists and Marcionites—who are invariably referred to as Christians—practiced a similar rite. The practice was condemned in a.d. 393 by the Council of Hippo, which certainly implies that it was still a vital issue. 10 As Hugh Nibley has shown in great detail, many of the Church Fathers understood this verse literally, even when they did not always know what to make of it. 11
Mormon temple ritual in general is another source of controversy, largely because many think that the reticence to talk about it is not Christian. But the New Testament scholar Joachim Jeremias has shown that “the desire to keep the most sacred things from profanation”—a concern shared by the Latter-day Saints—is widely found in the New Testament and in the early Christian community. 12
The second-century church father Ignatius of Antioch was known to have held “secret” doctrines. The historian Tertullian (second century a.d.) even takes the heretics to task because they provide access to their services to everyone without distinction. As a result, the demeanor of these heretics becomes frivolous, merely human, without seriousness and without authority. 13
The pagan critic Celsus (second century a.d.) probably referred to Christianity as a “secret system of belief” because access to the various ordinances of the church—baptism and the sacrament—was available only to the initiated. In his response to Celsus, Origen (third century a.d.) readily admitted that many practices and doctrines were not available to everyone, but he argues that this was not unique to Christianity. 14 As late as the fourth century, some groups were making efforts to return to an earlier Christian tradition of preserving certain doctrines and practices for the initiated only. 15
Is it true that because Latter-day Saints do not accept the Bible as their sole authority in faith and doctrine, they are not Christians?
Latter-day Saints accept the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price as scriptural, in addition to the Bible. But the whole question of canon—which writings are sacred, inspired, and binding on disciples—has always been a complicated one in the history of traditional Christianity.
In the earliest period of the Christian church, it is difficult to see a distinction being made between canonical writings and some books not in the present Protestant canon. For example, the Epistle of Jude draws heavily on noncanonical books such as 1 Enoch and The Assumption of Moses. As E. Isaac says of 1 Enoch, “It influenced Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, Hebrews, 1 John, Jude (which quotes it directly) and Revelation (with numerous points of contact) … in molding New Testament doctrines concerning the nature of the Messiah, the Son of Man, the messianic kingdom, demonology, the future, resurrection, the final judgment, the whole eschatological theater, and symbolism.” 16
The so-called Muratorian Fragment, dating from the late second century a.d., shows that some Christians of the period accepted the Apocalypse of Peter as scripture. Clement of Alexandria, writing around a.d. 200, seems to admit a New Testament canon of thirty books, including the Epistle of Barnabas, the Epistle of Clement, and the Preaching of Peter. Origen recognized the Epistle of Barnabas and the letter from the Shepherd of Hermas. 17
Even in more recent times, the question of canon has not been unanimously resolved. Martin Luther characterized the Epistle of James as “an epistle of straw”—largely because it seemed to disagree with his teaching of justification by faith alone—and mistrusted the book of Revelation. 18 Roman Catholics and the Orthodox churches tend to accept the Apocrypha as canonical—books included in their Bibles but left out of most Protestant Bibles, including the current King James Version. In fact, Eastern Orthodox churches have never settled the question of canon. A number of scholars have pointed out that the church has priority, both logically and historically, over the Bible—that is, a group of believers existed before a certain body of texts, such as the books of the Old and New Testament, were declared canonical. 19
Is it true that because Latter-day Saints deny the doctrine of original sin, they are not Christian?
The notion of original sin as it is usually understood today in traditional Christianity is a distinctly late invention that evolved from the controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries. Tertullian (second century a.d.), who was very concerned with the idea of sin, says nothing of the doctrine of original sin. Indeed, very few of the Church Fathers up to the fourth century show any interest in it at all. It was not clearly enunciated until Augustine (fourth/fifth century) needed it in his battle with the Christian Pelagians, who denied the doctrine, and it came to be associated with the Council of Carthage in a.d. 418. 20
As Norbert Brox points out, “Pelagian theology was the traditional one, especially in Rome. But the Africans, under the theological leadership of Augustine, managed to make their charge of heresy stick within the church, thereby establishing the Augustinian theology of grace as the basis of the Western tradition.” 21 Some modern scholars now raise the issue that Augustine, and not Pelagius, was the real heretic. 22
Is it true that because Latter-day Saints reject the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, they are not Christians?
Perhaps the most famous statement of the Latter-day Saint understanding of the relation between grace and works is in 2 Nephi 25:23: “It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” [2 Ne. 25:23] This idea is sometimes called synergism—a term Van A. Harvey has used to describe Roman Catholicism. 23
The doctrine that salvation depends both on God’s grace and man’s good works is very old in Catholic theology. One of the canons at the Council of Trent specifically repudiates the notion of grace alone: “If anyone saith that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sin for Christ’s sake alone; or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified, let him be anathema.” 24 Are we to say, then, that Roman Catholicism is not Christian because it does not subscribe to the doctrine of salvation by grace alone?
The doctrine of salvation through faith alone, sometimes called solafidianism, is not a biblical doctrine: there are no instances in the New Testament of the phrases “grace alone” or “faith alone.” The philosopher-theologian Frederick Sontag argues that Jesus himself was interested not in words, and not even in theological dogma, but in action: For the Jesus in Matthew, he says, “Action is more important than definition.” 25 Richard Lloyd Anderson shows that even in Paul’s major treatments of the doctrine of grace, particularly in Romans and Ephesians, there is a balancing element of works as well. 26 Other New Testament writers, most notably James, make it clear that saving faith can only be recognized through works: “Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” (James 2:17.)
The generations immediately following the New Testament period also recognized the need for both grace and works for salvation. The famous Didache—The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles—which dates back to before a.d. 70, is conspicuous for its moralism and legalism. 27 It is also significant that “the oldest datable literary document of Christian religion soon after the time of the Apostles”—the letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, written in the last decade of the first century—emphasizes “good works, as it is in the Epistle of James, which may belong to the same time.” 28 The second-century document Shepherd of Hermas contains twelve commandments. J. L. Gonzales writes that they “are a summary of the duties of a Christian, and Hermas affirms that in obeying them there is eternal life.” 29
Even F. F. Bruce, who contends that Paul taught a doctrine of salvation by grace alone, concurs sadly that the doctrine was not a part of the early Christian church: “The Biblical doctrine of divine grace, God’s favour shown to sinful humanity, … seems almost, in the post-apostolic age, to reappear only with Augustine. Certainly the majority of Christian writers who flourished between the apostles and Augustine do not seem to have grasped what Paul was really getting at. … Marcion has been called the only one of these writers who understood Paul.” 30
Marcion, incidentally, was a second-century gnostic Christian who distinguished between the gods of the Old and New Testament. He felt that the Old Testament deity was a lesser deity than the God of the New Testament and rejected the Old Testament entirely, as well as any New Testament writing “tainted” with Old Testament ideas. Marcion produced a canon of scripture that recognized no Apostle of Jesus except Paul. He considered the other Apostles falsifiers of God.
By contrast, in the fourth century, one prominent Christian bishop was teaching the necessity of rituals. “If any man receive not Baptism,” wrote Cyril of Jerusalem, “he hath not salvation.” He also wrote about an ordinance of anointing, which he called “chrism”: “Having been counted worthy of this Holy Chrism, ye are called Christians. … For before you were deemed worthy of this grace, ye had no proper claim to that title.” 31
The Eastern Orthodox churches also do not accept solafidianism, the doctrine of salvation by faith alone. “Eastern Orthodox Christians emphasize a unity of faith and works. For the Orthodox, being conformed to the image of Christ … includes a response of our faith and works.” 32 Sensing the danger that a “grace alone” position could become “cheap grace” (to borrow an expression from the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer) or “a theologically thin, no-sweat Christianity,” some modern Protestant writers have adopted a similar position, recognizing that works also play a vital role in salvation. 33
With so many other past and present Christians rejecting the position that grace alone brings salvation, excluding the Latter-day Saints from “Christianity” for their belief in faith and works is not justified.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints easily meet the definition of a Christian as implicitly defined in the New Testament: they believe that ancient prophets foretold Christ’s coming, that Jesus Christ suffered for our transgressions, that he was put to death but rose from the dead, that through him we may obtain forgiveness of our sins, and that he will come again in glory.
The doctrinal reasons some Christians give for excluding the Latter-day Saints from Christianity make little sense, because many of the doctrines used by traditional Christianity are late developments, reflective of creeds formulated in the fourth and fifth century or developed during the Reformation.
Given the wide variety of beliefs among the various Christian churches, it is better to take persons claiming to be Christians at their word and to let the Lord be the judge.
Notes
1. Cited by Bill Forrest, “Are Mormons Christians?” Mormon Miscellaneous Response Series (Salt Lake City: Mormon Miscellaneous, n.d.).
2. Ibid.
3. See appropriate index entries in Jaroslav Pelikan, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100–600): The Christian Tradition (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1971) and the index entry “Salvation—defined as deification,” in The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600–1700): The Christian Tradition (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1974). See also K. E. Norman, Deification: The Content of Athanasian Soteriology, Ph.D. dissertation, Duke Univ., 1980.
4. Clyde L. Manschreck, A History of Christianity in the World, 2d. ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1985), p. 52.
5. P. Barlow, “Unorthodox Orthodoxy: The Idea of Deification in Christian History,” Sunstone 8 (Sep./Oct. 1983):16–17.
6. See G. I. Mantzarides, The Deification of Man: Saint Gregory Palamas and Orthodox Tradition, trans. Liadain Sherrard (Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1984).
7. The Spirit of Eastern Christendom, p. 10.
8. A Grief Observed (New York: Bantam Books, 1963), pp. 84–85; Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan, 1960), pp. 138–40, 174, 187.
9. Jack R. Pressau, I’m Saved, You’re Saved … Maybe (Atlanta: John Knox, 1977), p. 57; A. Nygren, Agape and Eros, trans. Philip S. Watson (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1982), p. 734.
10. Samuel M. Gilimour, “Baptism for the Dead,” in An Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. V. Ferm (New York: The Philosophical Library, 1945), p. 54.
11. “Baptism for the Dead in Ancient Times,” Improvement Era, Dec. 1948, pp. 786–88, 836; Jan. 1949, pp. 24–26, 60; Feb. 1949, pp. 90–91, 109–10, 112; Mar. 1949, pp. 146–48, 180–83; Apr. 1949, pp. 212–14.
12. The Eucharistic Words of Jesus (New York: Scribner’s, 1966), p. 130.
13. Tertullianus, Apologia 7–8; De praescriptionibus adversus haereticos 41.
14. Origen, Contra Celsum 1:7.
15. Norbert Brox, Kirchengeschichte des Altertums (Düsseldorf, West Germany: Patmos Verlag, 1983), p. 134.
16. E. Isaac, “1 (Ethiopic Apocalypse of) Enoch,” in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. J. H. Charlesworth, 2 vols. (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1983), 1:10. See also “Apocrypha,” in The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, ed. G. A. Buttrick (Nashville: Abingdon, 1953), 1:161–69.
17. Manschreck, p. 33.
18. R. Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (Nashville: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1950), pp. 177, 331–32; Max Lackmann, Sola Fide: Eine exegetische Studie über Jakobus 2 zur reformatorischen Rechtfertigungslehre (Gütersloh, West Germany: C. Bertelsmann Verlag, 1949).
19. H. Holzapfel, Die Sekten in Deutschland (Regensburg, West Germany: Verlag Josef Koesel & Friedrich Pustet A. G., 1925), pp. 20, 23–27; P. Johnson, A History of Christianity (New York: Atheneum, 1983), p. 22.
20. K. Rahner, “Original Sin,” in Sacramentum Mundi: An Encyclopedia of Theology, ed. Rahner et al., 6 vols. (London: Burns and Oates, 1969), 4:329.
21. Kirchengeschichte, p. 141 (authors’ translation).
22. W. E. Phipps, “The Heresiarch: Pelagius or Augustine?” Anglican Theological Review 62 (1980):124–33.
23. A Handbook of Theological Terms (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1966), p. 199.
24. Session VI, Canon 12, cited in L. Boettner, Roman Catholicism (Phillipsburg, N.J.: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1986), p. 261.
25. “The Once and Future Christian,” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 19 (1986):116–18.
26. Understanding Paul (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983), pp. 185–86, 272–76, 355–62.
27. Justo L. Gonzales, A History of Christian Thought, 3 vols. (Nashville: Abingdon, 1970), 1:69, 94–96.
28. Werner Jaeger, Early Christianity and Greek Paideia (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1961), pp. 12, 15–16.
29. Gonzales, p. 89.
30. The Spreading Flame (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979), p. 334.
31. Catechetical Lectures 3:10; 21:5.
32. W. G. Rusch, “Getting to Know the Orthodox,” The Lutheran, 2 Apr. 1986, p. 12.
33. Pressau, p. 38. See also J. Macquarrie, An Existentialist Theology (Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1973), pp. 144–49.
Showing posts with label Grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grace. Show all posts
Friday, October 10, 2008
Friday, June 8, 2007
Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation
JESUS CHRIST AND THE PLAN OF SALVATION
Latter-day Saints believe there is purpose in life, that there are things to be felt and experienced and accomplished in this existence that bring peace and contentment; there are other attitudes and actions that lead to misery and despair. The Latter-day Saints hold tenaciously to the principle that God our Father has a plan for us. The plan—called variously the plan of salvation, the plan of redemption, the great plan of happiness—serves as a guide, a roadmap of sorts, through trying and confusing and even ironic circumstances in life. In this chapter we will focus on the vital role of Jesus Christ in that plan of salvation.
AN ETERNAL GOSPEL
Latter-day Saints have a rather unusual view of Christianity. They believe that Christian doctrines have been taught and Christian sacraments administered by Christian prophets since the beginning of time. Adam and Eve were Christians. Noah warned the people in his day to repent, believe, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Abraham and Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel were Christian prophets. If all of this seems odd, anachronistic in the sense that there could obviously be no Christianity until the coming to earth of the Christ, Latter-day Saints believe otherwise. They believe and teach that among the plain and precious truths lost from the holy records that became the Bible is the knowledge of Christ's eternal gospel, the message that a gospel or plan of salvation was had from the dawn of time. In this sense, the Latter-day Saints do not accept a developmental or evolutionary approach to the New Testament. They do not accept the view that the antediluvians, for example, were primitives or that the so-called Christian era we generally associate with the birth or ministry of Jesus is in some way superior, on a higher plane, or more spiritually advanced than the eras of the Old Testament patriarchs or prophets. It is true that the Latter-day Saints speak of the Christian era as "the meridian of time," but this has reference to the centrality of Christ's ministry, teachings, and atoning sacrifice more than to the uniqueness of the message delivered in the first century.
Latter-day Saints believe that God has revealed himself and his plan of salvation during different periods of the earth's history; these periods are known as dispensations. The Adamic dispensation was the first. LDS scripture declares that Adam and Eve, after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, called upon God in prayer and came to know the course in life they should pursue through God's voice, by the ministry of angels, and by revelation through the power of the Holy Ghost. They then taught the gospel to their children and grandchildren, and thus the knowledge of God, of a coming Savior, and of a plan for the redemption and reclamation of wandering souls was in effect early on. (See Pearl of Great Price, Moses 5:1-8.) From the Pearl of Great Price comes the following counsel of God to Adam:["[God] called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying: I am God; I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." (Moses 6:51-52.) Adam was further instructed to teach his children of the necessity for spiritual rebirth, that by "transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten." (Moses 6:59.)
Other dispensations followed, periods of time wherein the heavens were opened, prophets were called and empowered, and new truths and new authorities were restored to the earth, usually following a time of falling away or apostasy. Thus the ministries and teachings of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Joseph Smith introduced major dispensations, periods wherein God—his person and plan—was revealed anew. Lest there be misunderstanding at this point, I hasten to add that Jesus Christ is chief, preeminent, and supreme over all the prophets. Latter-day Saints would acknowledge Jesus as a prophet, a restorer, a revealer of God, but more than this, they stand firm in attesting to his divinity. While the prophets were called of God, Jesus is God. He is the Son of God. Under the Father, his is the power by which men and women are forgiven, redeemed, and born again to a new spiritual life. LDS scriptures teach that all the prophets from the beginning testified of Christ—that all of those called as spokesmen or mouthpieces for God were, first and foremost, witnesses of the Redeemer, inasmuch as "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev. 19:10.) In the words of Peter, to Christ "give all the prophets witness." (Acts 10:43; see also 1 Pet. 1:10-11.)
In the Book of Mormon, one of the prophet leaders, living in about 73 B.C., explains to his son, "Behold, you marvel why these things"—the coming atonement of Jesus of Nazareth—"should be known so long beforehand. Behold, I say unto you, is not a soul at this time as precious unto God as a soul will be at the time of his coming? Is it not as necessary that the plan of redemption should be made known unto this people as well as unto their children? Is it not as easy at this time for the Lord to send his angel to declare these glad tidings unto us as unto our children, or as after the time of his coming?" (Alma 39:17-19.) In that same vein, Joseph Smith recorded the following in April of 1830:
The Almighty God gave his Only Begotten Son, as it is written in those scriptures which have been given of him. He suffered temptations but gave no heed unto them. He was crucified, died, and rose again the third day; and ascended into heaven, to sit down on the right hand of the Father . . .; that as many as would believe and be baptized in his holy name, and endure in faith to the end, should be saved—not only those who believed after he came in the meridian of time, in the flesh, but all those from the beginning, even as many as were before he came, who believed in the words of the holy prophets, who spake as they were inspired by the gift of the Holy Ghost, who truly testified of him in all things, should have eternal life, as well as those who should come after, who should believe in the gifts and callings of God by the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of the Father and of the Son. (D&C 20:21-27; emphasis added.)
The fullness of the gospel plan, the covenant between God and humankind, is thus known as the new and everlasting covenant. It is new in the sense that it is new to those to whom it is restored and revealed; it is everlasting in the sense that it has been around for a long, long time. We will speak in some detail of the nature of the covenant in a later chapter. For now, let us quote briefly from Joseph Smith on the eternal nature of the gospel covenant:
Perhaps our friends will say that the Gospel and its ordinances were not known till the days of John, the son of Zacharias, in the days of Herod, the king of Judea.
But we will here look at this point: For our own part we cannot believe that the ancients in all ages were so ignorant of the system of heaven as many suppose, since all that were ever saved, were saved through the power of this great plan of redemption, as much before the coming of Christ as since; if not, God has had different plans in operation (if we may so express it), to bring men back to dwell with Himself; and this we cannot believe, since there has been no change in the constitution of man since he fell. . . . It will be noticed that, according to Paul (see Gal. 3:8) the Gospel was preached to Abraham. We would like to be informed in what name the Gospel was then preached, whether it was in the name of Christ or some other name. If in any other name, was it the Gospel? And if it was the Gospel, and that preached in the name of Christ, had it any ordinances [sacraments]? If not, was it the Gospel?<#>1
To say this another way, Latter-day Saints teach that the knowledge of a Savior and the plan of salvation have been revealed throughout history, and not simply since the mortal ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. This may be one reason why so many elements common to Christianity, remnants of a primitive Christian message—a god becoming a man, a virgin birth, the sacrifice of a god, and so on—are to be found in cultures far and wide, even dating well before the birth of Jesus. As Joseph F. Smith, nephew of the Prophet Joseph and himself sixth president of the Church, explained, "When I read books that are scattered broadcast through the world, throwing discredit upon words and teachings and doctrines of the Lord Jesus Christ, saying that some of the ideas Jesus uttered, truths that he promulgated, have been enunciated before by the ancient philosophers among the heathen nations of the world, I want to tell you that there is not a heathen philosopher that ever lived in all the world from the beginning, that had a truth or enunciated a principle of God's truth that did not receive it from the fountain head, from God himself."<#>2 On another occasion he stated:
Let it be remembered that Christ was with the Father from the beginning, that the gospel of truth and light existed from the beginning, and is from everlasting to everlasting. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as one God, are the fountain of truth. From this fountain all the ancient learned philosophers have received their inspiration and wisdom—from it they have received all their knowledge. If we find truth in broken fragments through the ages, it may be set down as an incontrovertible fact that it originated at the fountain, and was given to philosophers, inventors, patriots, reformers, and prophets by the inspiration of God. It came from him through his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, in the first place, and from no other source. It is eternal.
Christ, therefore, being the fountain of truth, is no imitator. He taught the truth first; it was his before it was given to man. When he came to the earth he not only proclaimed new thought, but repeated some of the everlasting principles which had been heretofore only partly understood and enunciated by the wisest of men. And in so doing he enlarged in every instance upon the wisdom which they had originally received from him, because of his superior abilities and wisdom, and his association with the Father and the Holy Ghost. He did not imitate men. They made known in their imperfect way what the inspiration of Jesus Christ had taught them, for they obtained their enlightenment first from him.<#>3
THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST
Gospel means "good news" or "glad tidings." The bad news is that because of the fall of our first parents we are subject to the effects and pull of sin and death. The bad news is that because of the fall men and women experience spiritual death—separation and alienation from the presence and influence of God and of things of righteousness. The bad news is that every man, woman, and child will one day face the grim reaper, the universal horror we know as physical death. The good news is that there is help, relief, extrication from the pain and penalty of our sins. The good news is that there is reconciliation with God the Father through the mediation of his Son, Jesus Christ. The good news is that there is an atonement, literally an at-one-ment with the Father. The good news is that the victory of the grave and the sting of death are swallowed up in the power of One greater than death. (1 Cor. 15:54-55; see also Isa. 25:8.) The good news is the promise of eventual life after death through the resurrection. In short, the gospel is the good news that Christ came to earth, lived and taught and suffered and died and rose again, all to the end that those who believe and obey might be delivered from death and sin unto eternal life. This good news Latter-day Saints have in common with Christians throughout the world.
Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus was and is a perfect man, that he did what no other man or woman has ever done—he lived a perfect life. He was tempted in all points just as we are, but he did not yield. (Heb. 4:15; 1 Pet. 2:22.) Jesus was the truth and he taught the truth, and his teachings stand as a formula for happiness, a guide for personal, interpersonal, and world peace. His messages, as contained in the New Testament, are timely and timeless; they are a treasure house of wisdom and divine direction for our lives. Other men and women have spoken the truth, offered wise counsel for our lives, and even provided profound insight as to who we are and what life is all about. But Jesus did what no other person could do—he atoned for our sins and rose from the dead. Only a god, only a person with power over death, could do such things.
Mormons teach that the atonement of Christ began in the Garden of Gethsemane and was consummated on the cross of Calvary. His sufferings, as described in the four Gospels, represented far more than the anticipation and fear of the cross,
although no sane person would do other than dread such a cruel fate. Rather, his sufferings in the Garden—including sweating blood (Luke 22:44)—came because of his agony for the sins of the world. One of the direct consequences of sin is the withdrawal of the Father's Spirit, resulting in feelings of loss, anxiety, disappointment, fear, alienation, and guilt. Latter-day Saint scripture and prophet leaders affirm that Jesus experienced the withdrawal of the Father's Spirit and thus suffered in both body and spirit.<#>4 The withdrawal of the Spirit lasted for a period of hours in Gethsemane and reoccurred on the cross the next day. It was for this reason that Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46.) A Book of Mormon prophet described our Lord's sufferings as follows: "He cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam." (2 Ne. 9:21.) Another Nephite leader explained, "He shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people." (Mosiah 3:7.)
How this atonement took place is unknown. The Latter-day Saints believe in Christ and trust in his redeeming mercy and grace. They accept the word of scripture, both ancient and modern, in regard to the ransoming mission of Jesus the Christ. They know from personal experience—having been transformed from pain to peace, from darkness to light—of the power in Christ to renew the human soul. But, like the rest of the Christian world, they cannot rationally conceive the work of a God. They cannot grasp how one man can assume the effect of another man's error, and, more especially, how one man, even a man possessed of the power of God the Father, can suffer for another's sins. The atonement, the greatest act of mercy and love in all eternity, though real, is, for now, incomprehensible and unfathomable.
In a subsequent chapter we will discuss the LDS view of the premortal and postmortal nature of men and women. For now, let us simply observe that physical death is the separation of spirit and body. Following death, the spirit goes into a spirit world to await the time when spirit and body are reunited, the time we know as the resurrection. Latter-day Saints accept the account in the New Testament that Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross, was taken down by his disciples, and was placed in a tomb. On the third day he rose from the dead. His physical body was joined again with his spirit. With that physical body he walked and talked and taught and ate and ministered. The resurrection of Jesus is of monumental importance; it was the first occurrence of a resurrection and stands as a physical proof of the divine Sonship of Jesus. Again, in a way that is incomprehensible to finite minds, the LDS people believe, as do Christians everywhere, that Christ's rising from the tomb opened the door for all men and women to rise one day from death to life. In short, because he rose, we shall also, in the proper time: "He cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him. And he shall rise the third day from the dead." (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 3:9-10.) Also: "If Christ had not come into the world . . . , there could have been no redemption. And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection. But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death." (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 16:6-9.)
In the Pearl of Great Price are recorded the following words of God to Moses the Lawgiver: "This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 1:39.) This is a capsule statement, a succinct summary of the work of redemption in Christ. Latter-day Saints believe there are two types of salvation made available through the atonement of Jesus Christ—universal and individual. All who take a physical body—good or bad, evil or righteous—will be resurrected. That is, all will one day rise from death to life, their spirits reuniting with their bodies, never again to be divided. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Cor. 15:22.) This is universal salvation. It is salvation from physical death, a salvation available to all. Immortality is salvation from the grave. It is endless life. It is a universal gift.
Individual salvation is another matter. Though all salvation is available through the goodness and grace of Christ, Latter-day Saints believe there are certain things that must be done in order for divine grace and mercy to be activated in the lives of individual followers of Christ. We must come unto him—accept him as Lord and Savior, have faith on his name, repent of sin, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and strive to keep God's commandments to the end of our days. Eternal life, known also as salvation or exaltation, comes to those who believe and seek to remain true to the gospel covenant. Christ is "the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." (Heb. 5:9.) One Book of Mormon prophet thus observed,["[Christ] shall come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else. Therefore the wicked remain as though there had been no redemption made, except it be the loosing of the bands of death; for behold, the day cometh that all shall rise from the dead and stand before God, and be judged according to their works." (Book of Mormon, Alma 11:40-41.) Eternal life is endless life, but it is also life with and like God. It is God's life. It is the highest form of salvation.
ALL MAY BE SAVED
Latter-day Saints believe that all men and women have the capacity to be saved. "We believe," Joseph Smith wrote in 1842, "that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel." (Pearl of Great Price, A of F 1:3.) Stated another way, no one who comes to earth is outside the reach of Christ's power to save, no soul beyond the pale of mercy and grace. "God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." (Acts 10:34-35.) Latter-day Saints do not believe in predestination. They do not believe that men and women are chosen or elected unconditionally to salvation or reprobation.
In Joseph Smith's day the great debate was between the Presbyterians and the Methodists. The Presbyterians subscribed to the tenets of Calvinism. They believed in such principles as the unconditional election of individuals to eternal life, limited atonement (only the elect are saved through Christ's atonement), the irresistibility of grace (no one chosen for salvation can resist the call to the same), and the perseverance of saints (one cannot fall from grace). The Methodists believed that men and women had a say in whether or not they would be saved, that there was a method, a system by which people could develop spiritually, that our works and labors in this life were necessary. They believed that a person could be in God's grace today and fall from it tomorrow, repent and be restored to that grace thereafter, and so on. For Joseph the Prophet, the two positions were extreme; truth took a road between them both.<#>5 Early on in his life, Joseph seemed to oppose the doctrine of predestination; this may explain why he seemed somewhat partial to the Methodists.
In regard to the individual responsibility men and women have to accept the doctrine of Christ, Latter-day Saints believe that the highest rewards hereafter and the greatest happiness here are reserved for those who come unto Christ and accept his gospel. Though they acknowledge the decency of men and women of goodwill everywhere, the effort of many outside the Christian faith to make a positive difference in the world, and the nobility and refined character of so many who adopt other religious views, still the Latter-day Saints hold to the position that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of all men and women. His message and redemptive labors are infinite in scope and meant to be accepted by all. He will one day return in glory to the earth, assume responsibility for the purification of this planet, and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.
1 Teachings, pp. 59-60.
2 Gospel Doctrine (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1971), p. 395.
3 Ibid., pp. 398-99.
4 See D&C 19:15-20; Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 3:205-6.
5 See Teachings, pp. 338-39.
(Robert L. Millet, The Mormon Faith: Understanding Restored Christianity [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1998], 53 - 54.)
Latter-day Saints believe there is purpose in life, that there are things to be felt and experienced and accomplished in this existence that bring peace and contentment; there are other attitudes and actions that lead to misery and despair. The Latter-day Saints hold tenaciously to the principle that God our Father has a plan for us. The plan—called variously the plan of salvation, the plan of redemption, the great plan of happiness—serves as a guide, a roadmap of sorts, through trying and confusing and even ironic circumstances in life. In this chapter we will focus on the vital role of Jesus Christ in that plan of salvation.
AN ETERNAL GOSPEL
Latter-day Saints have a rather unusual view of Christianity. They believe that Christian doctrines have been taught and Christian sacraments administered by Christian prophets since the beginning of time. Adam and Eve were Christians. Noah warned the people in his day to repent, believe, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Abraham and Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel were Christian prophets. If all of this seems odd, anachronistic in the sense that there could obviously be no Christianity until the coming to earth of the Christ, Latter-day Saints believe otherwise. They believe and teach that among the plain and precious truths lost from the holy records that became the Bible is the knowledge of Christ's eternal gospel, the message that a gospel or plan of salvation was had from the dawn of time. In this sense, the Latter-day Saints do not accept a developmental or evolutionary approach to the New Testament. They do not accept the view that the antediluvians, for example, were primitives or that the so-called Christian era we generally associate with the birth or ministry of Jesus is in some way superior, on a higher plane, or more spiritually advanced than the eras of the Old Testament patriarchs or prophets. It is true that the Latter-day Saints speak of the Christian era as "the meridian of time," but this has reference to the centrality of Christ's ministry, teachings, and atoning sacrifice more than to the uniqueness of the message delivered in the first century.
Latter-day Saints believe that God has revealed himself and his plan of salvation during different periods of the earth's history; these periods are known as dispensations. The Adamic dispensation was the first. LDS scripture declares that Adam and Eve, after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, called upon God in prayer and came to know the course in life they should pursue through God's voice, by the ministry of angels, and by revelation through the power of the Holy Ghost. They then taught the gospel to their children and grandchildren, and thus the knowledge of God, of a coming Savior, and of a plan for the redemption and reclamation of wandering souls was in effect early on. (See Pearl of Great Price, Moses 5:1-8.) From the Pearl of Great Price comes the following counsel of God to Adam:["[God] called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying: I am God; I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." (Moses 6:51-52.) Adam was further instructed to teach his children of the necessity for spiritual rebirth, that by "transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten." (Moses 6:59.)
Other dispensations followed, periods of time wherein the heavens were opened, prophets were called and empowered, and new truths and new authorities were restored to the earth, usually following a time of falling away or apostasy. Thus the ministries and teachings of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Joseph Smith introduced major dispensations, periods wherein God—his person and plan—was revealed anew. Lest there be misunderstanding at this point, I hasten to add that Jesus Christ is chief, preeminent, and supreme over all the prophets. Latter-day Saints would acknowledge Jesus as a prophet, a restorer, a revealer of God, but more than this, they stand firm in attesting to his divinity. While the prophets were called of God, Jesus is God. He is the Son of God. Under the Father, his is the power by which men and women are forgiven, redeemed, and born again to a new spiritual life. LDS scriptures teach that all the prophets from the beginning testified of Christ—that all of those called as spokesmen or mouthpieces for God were, first and foremost, witnesses of the Redeemer, inasmuch as "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev. 19:10.) In the words of Peter, to Christ "give all the prophets witness." (Acts 10:43; see also 1 Pet. 1:10-11.)
In the Book of Mormon, one of the prophet leaders, living in about 73 B.C., explains to his son, "Behold, you marvel why these things"—the coming atonement of Jesus of Nazareth—"should be known so long beforehand. Behold, I say unto you, is not a soul at this time as precious unto God as a soul will be at the time of his coming? Is it not as necessary that the plan of redemption should be made known unto this people as well as unto their children? Is it not as easy at this time for the Lord to send his angel to declare these glad tidings unto us as unto our children, or as after the time of his coming?" (Alma 39:17-19.) In that same vein, Joseph Smith recorded the following in April of 1830:
The Almighty God gave his Only Begotten Son, as it is written in those scriptures which have been given of him. He suffered temptations but gave no heed unto them. He was crucified, died, and rose again the third day; and ascended into heaven, to sit down on the right hand of the Father . . .; that as many as would believe and be baptized in his holy name, and endure in faith to the end, should be saved—not only those who believed after he came in the meridian of time, in the flesh, but all those from the beginning, even as many as were before he came, who believed in the words of the holy prophets, who spake as they were inspired by the gift of the Holy Ghost, who truly testified of him in all things, should have eternal life, as well as those who should come after, who should believe in the gifts and callings of God by the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of the Father and of the Son. (D&C 20:21-27; emphasis added.)
The fullness of the gospel plan, the covenant between God and humankind, is thus known as the new and everlasting covenant. It is new in the sense that it is new to those to whom it is restored and revealed; it is everlasting in the sense that it has been around for a long, long time. We will speak in some detail of the nature of the covenant in a later chapter. For now, let us quote briefly from Joseph Smith on the eternal nature of the gospel covenant:
Perhaps our friends will say that the Gospel and its ordinances were not known till the days of John, the son of Zacharias, in the days of Herod, the king of Judea.
But we will here look at this point: For our own part we cannot believe that the ancients in all ages were so ignorant of the system of heaven as many suppose, since all that were ever saved, were saved through the power of this great plan of redemption, as much before the coming of Christ as since; if not, God has had different plans in operation (if we may so express it), to bring men back to dwell with Himself; and this we cannot believe, since there has been no change in the constitution of man since he fell. . . . It will be noticed that, according to Paul (see Gal. 3:8) the Gospel was preached to Abraham. We would like to be informed in what name the Gospel was then preached, whether it was in the name of Christ or some other name. If in any other name, was it the Gospel? And if it was the Gospel, and that preached in the name of Christ, had it any ordinances [sacraments]? If not, was it the Gospel?<#>1
To say this another way, Latter-day Saints teach that the knowledge of a Savior and the plan of salvation have been revealed throughout history, and not simply since the mortal ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. This may be one reason why so many elements common to Christianity, remnants of a primitive Christian message—a god becoming a man, a virgin birth, the sacrifice of a god, and so on—are to be found in cultures far and wide, even dating well before the birth of Jesus. As Joseph F. Smith, nephew of the Prophet Joseph and himself sixth president of the Church, explained, "When I read books that are scattered broadcast through the world, throwing discredit upon words and teachings and doctrines of the Lord Jesus Christ, saying that some of the ideas Jesus uttered, truths that he promulgated, have been enunciated before by the ancient philosophers among the heathen nations of the world, I want to tell you that there is not a heathen philosopher that ever lived in all the world from the beginning, that had a truth or enunciated a principle of God's truth that did not receive it from the fountain head, from God himself."<#>2 On another occasion he stated:
Let it be remembered that Christ was with the Father from the beginning, that the gospel of truth and light existed from the beginning, and is from everlasting to everlasting. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as one God, are the fountain of truth. From this fountain all the ancient learned philosophers have received their inspiration and wisdom—from it they have received all their knowledge. If we find truth in broken fragments through the ages, it may be set down as an incontrovertible fact that it originated at the fountain, and was given to philosophers, inventors, patriots, reformers, and prophets by the inspiration of God. It came from him through his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, in the first place, and from no other source. It is eternal.
Christ, therefore, being the fountain of truth, is no imitator. He taught the truth first; it was his before it was given to man. When he came to the earth he not only proclaimed new thought, but repeated some of the everlasting principles which had been heretofore only partly understood and enunciated by the wisest of men. And in so doing he enlarged in every instance upon the wisdom which they had originally received from him, because of his superior abilities and wisdom, and his association with the Father and the Holy Ghost. He did not imitate men. They made known in their imperfect way what the inspiration of Jesus Christ had taught them, for they obtained their enlightenment first from him.<#>3
THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST
Gospel means "good news" or "glad tidings." The bad news is that because of the fall of our first parents we are subject to the effects and pull of sin and death. The bad news is that because of the fall men and women experience spiritual death—separation and alienation from the presence and influence of God and of things of righteousness. The bad news is that every man, woman, and child will one day face the grim reaper, the universal horror we know as physical death. The good news is that there is help, relief, extrication from the pain and penalty of our sins. The good news is that there is reconciliation with God the Father through the mediation of his Son, Jesus Christ. The good news is that there is an atonement, literally an at-one-ment with the Father. The good news is that the victory of the grave and the sting of death are swallowed up in the power of One greater than death. (1 Cor. 15:54-55; see also Isa. 25:8.) The good news is the promise of eventual life after death through the resurrection. In short, the gospel is the good news that Christ came to earth, lived and taught and suffered and died and rose again, all to the end that those who believe and obey might be delivered from death and sin unto eternal life. This good news Latter-day Saints have in common with Christians throughout the world.
Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus was and is a perfect man, that he did what no other man or woman has ever done—he lived a perfect life. He was tempted in all points just as we are, but he did not yield. (Heb. 4:15; 1 Pet. 2:22.) Jesus was the truth and he taught the truth, and his teachings stand as a formula for happiness, a guide for personal, interpersonal, and world peace. His messages, as contained in the New Testament, are timely and timeless; they are a treasure house of wisdom and divine direction for our lives. Other men and women have spoken the truth, offered wise counsel for our lives, and even provided profound insight as to who we are and what life is all about. But Jesus did what no other person could do—he atoned for our sins and rose from the dead. Only a god, only a person with power over death, could do such things.
Mormons teach that the atonement of Christ began in the Garden of Gethsemane and was consummated on the cross of Calvary. His sufferings, as described in the four Gospels, represented far more than the anticipation and fear of the cross,
although no sane person would do other than dread such a cruel fate. Rather, his sufferings in the Garden—including sweating blood (Luke 22:44)—came because of his agony for the sins of the world. One of the direct consequences of sin is the withdrawal of the Father's Spirit, resulting in feelings of loss, anxiety, disappointment, fear, alienation, and guilt. Latter-day Saint scripture and prophet leaders affirm that Jesus experienced the withdrawal of the Father's Spirit and thus suffered in both body and spirit.<#>4 The withdrawal of the Spirit lasted for a period of hours in Gethsemane and reoccurred on the cross the next day. It was for this reason that Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46.) A Book of Mormon prophet described our Lord's sufferings as follows: "He cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam." (2 Ne. 9:21.) Another Nephite leader explained, "He shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people." (Mosiah 3:7.)
How this atonement took place is unknown. The Latter-day Saints believe in Christ and trust in his redeeming mercy and grace. They accept the word of scripture, both ancient and modern, in regard to the ransoming mission of Jesus the Christ. They know from personal experience—having been transformed from pain to peace, from darkness to light—of the power in Christ to renew the human soul. But, like the rest of the Christian world, they cannot rationally conceive the work of a God. They cannot grasp how one man can assume the effect of another man's error, and, more especially, how one man, even a man possessed of the power of God the Father, can suffer for another's sins. The atonement, the greatest act of mercy and love in all eternity, though real, is, for now, incomprehensible and unfathomable.
In a subsequent chapter we will discuss the LDS view of the premortal and postmortal nature of men and women. For now, let us simply observe that physical death is the separation of spirit and body. Following death, the spirit goes into a spirit world to await the time when spirit and body are reunited, the time we know as the resurrection. Latter-day Saints accept the account in the New Testament that Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross, was taken down by his disciples, and was placed in a tomb. On the third day he rose from the dead. His physical body was joined again with his spirit. With that physical body he walked and talked and taught and ate and ministered. The resurrection of Jesus is of monumental importance; it was the first occurrence of a resurrection and stands as a physical proof of the divine Sonship of Jesus. Again, in a way that is incomprehensible to finite minds, the LDS people believe, as do Christians everywhere, that Christ's rising from the tomb opened the door for all men and women to rise one day from death to life. In short, because he rose, we shall also, in the proper time: "He cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him. And he shall rise the third day from the dead." (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 3:9-10.) Also: "If Christ had not come into the world . . . , there could have been no redemption. And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection. But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death." (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 16:6-9.)
In the Pearl of Great Price are recorded the following words of God to Moses the Lawgiver: "This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 1:39.) This is a capsule statement, a succinct summary of the work of redemption in Christ. Latter-day Saints believe there are two types of salvation made available through the atonement of Jesus Christ—universal and individual. All who take a physical body—good or bad, evil or righteous—will be resurrected. That is, all will one day rise from death to life, their spirits reuniting with their bodies, never again to be divided. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Cor. 15:22.) This is universal salvation. It is salvation from physical death, a salvation available to all. Immortality is salvation from the grave. It is endless life. It is a universal gift.
Individual salvation is another matter. Though all salvation is available through the goodness and grace of Christ, Latter-day Saints believe there are certain things that must be done in order for divine grace and mercy to be activated in the lives of individual followers of Christ. We must come unto him—accept him as Lord and Savior, have faith on his name, repent of sin, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and strive to keep God's commandments to the end of our days. Eternal life, known also as salvation or exaltation, comes to those who believe and seek to remain true to the gospel covenant. Christ is "the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." (Heb. 5:9.) One Book of Mormon prophet thus observed,["[Christ] shall come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else. Therefore the wicked remain as though there had been no redemption made, except it be the loosing of the bands of death; for behold, the day cometh that all shall rise from the dead and stand before God, and be judged according to their works." (Book of Mormon, Alma 11:40-41.) Eternal life is endless life, but it is also life with and like God. It is God's life. It is the highest form of salvation.
ALL MAY BE SAVED
Latter-day Saints believe that all men and women have the capacity to be saved. "We believe," Joseph Smith wrote in 1842, "that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel." (Pearl of Great Price, A of F 1:3.) Stated another way, no one who comes to earth is outside the reach of Christ's power to save, no soul beyond the pale of mercy and grace. "God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." (Acts 10:34-35.) Latter-day Saints do not believe in predestination. They do not believe that men and women are chosen or elected unconditionally to salvation or reprobation.
In Joseph Smith's day the great debate was between the Presbyterians and the Methodists. The Presbyterians subscribed to the tenets of Calvinism. They believed in such principles as the unconditional election of individuals to eternal life, limited atonement (only the elect are saved through Christ's atonement), the irresistibility of grace (no one chosen for salvation can resist the call to the same), and the perseverance of saints (one cannot fall from grace). The Methodists believed that men and women had a say in whether or not they would be saved, that there was a method, a system by which people could develop spiritually, that our works and labors in this life were necessary. They believed that a person could be in God's grace today and fall from it tomorrow, repent and be restored to that grace thereafter, and so on. For Joseph the Prophet, the two positions were extreme; truth took a road between them both.<#>5 Early on in his life, Joseph seemed to oppose the doctrine of predestination; this may explain why he seemed somewhat partial to the Methodists.
In regard to the individual responsibility men and women have to accept the doctrine of Christ, Latter-day Saints believe that the highest rewards hereafter and the greatest happiness here are reserved for those who come unto Christ and accept his gospel. Though they acknowledge the decency of men and women of goodwill everywhere, the effort of many outside the Christian faith to make a positive difference in the world, and the nobility and refined character of so many who adopt other religious views, still the Latter-day Saints hold to the position that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of all men and women. His message and redemptive labors are infinite in scope and meant to be accepted by all. He will one day return in glory to the earth, assume responsibility for the purification of this planet, and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.
1 Teachings, pp. 59-60.
2 Gospel Doctrine (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1971), p. 395.
3 Ibid., pp. 398-99.
4 See D&C 19:15-20; Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 3:205-6.
5 See Teachings, pp. 338-39.
(Robert L. Millet, The Mormon Faith: Understanding Restored Christianity [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1998], 53 - 54.)
Don't the Mormons believe they will be saved by their works and not by the grace of Christ?
10. Don't the Mormons believe they will be saved by their works and not by the grace of Christ?
Entrance into God's kingdom comes through covenant—a two-way promise between God and man. The follower of Christ promises to do what he can do—have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, endure faithfully to the end, and undertake deeds of Christian service. God on his part agrees to do for us what we could not do for ourselves—forgive our sins, transform our souls and purify our hearts, resurrect us from the dead, and save us hereafter in a kingdom of glory. LDS scriptures are very clear and consistent in stating that salvation or eternal life is a gift, in fact, the greatest of all the gifts of God. (D&C 6:13; 14:7.) Salvation is not something that can be purchased, bartered for, or, in the strictest sense, earned. Over and over again, the Book of Mormon, for example, affirms that men and women are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ and that there is no other way whereby salvation can be acquired. (2 Ne. 10:24; 25:23; Alma 22:14.) On the other hand, good works are expected of those who claim to have taken upon them the name of Christ. In fact, it is only as they strive to do their best to keep their part of the Christian covenant that the grace or divine enabling power can be extended and received as the free gift that it is. (Moroni 10:32.) In short, good works are necessary but not sufficient for salvation. The theological issue is thus not whether people are saved by grace or by works. Instead, the greater questions are: In whom do I trust? Upon whom do I rely? The Book of Mormon prophets attest that the people of God must always rely wholly (alone) upon the merits and mercy of the Holy Messiah. (1 Ne. 10:6; 2 Ne. 31:19; Moro. 6:4.)
(Robert L. Millet, The Mormon Faith: Understanding Restored Christianity [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1998], 168 - 169.)
Entrance into God's kingdom comes through covenant—a two-way promise between God and man. The follower of Christ promises to do what he can do—have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, endure faithfully to the end, and undertake deeds of Christian service. God on his part agrees to do for us what we could not do for ourselves—forgive our sins, transform our souls and purify our hearts, resurrect us from the dead, and save us hereafter in a kingdom of glory. LDS scriptures are very clear and consistent in stating that salvation or eternal life is a gift, in fact, the greatest of all the gifts of God. (D&C 6:13; 14:7.) Salvation is not something that can be purchased, bartered for, or, in the strictest sense, earned. Over and over again, the Book of Mormon, for example, affirms that men and women are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ and that there is no other way whereby salvation can be acquired. (2 Ne. 10:24; 25:23; Alma 22:14.) On the other hand, good works are expected of those who claim to have taken upon them the name of Christ. In fact, it is only as they strive to do their best to keep their part of the Christian covenant that the grace or divine enabling power can be extended and received as the free gift that it is. (Moroni 10:32.) In short, good works are necessary but not sufficient for salvation. The theological issue is thus not whether people are saved by grace or by works. Instead, the greater questions are: In whom do I trust? Upon whom do I rely? The Book of Mormon prophets attest that the people of God must always rely wholly (alone) upon the merits and mercy of the Holy Messiah. (1 Ne. 10:6; 2 Ne. 31:19; Moro. 6:4.)
(Robert L. Millet, The Mormon Faith: Understanding Restored Christianity [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1998], 168 - 169.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
